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Jake Smith (Contributed Photo)

It’s an all-WISSOTA podium on night three; Smith, Adams and Rodin finish up front at Central Arizona Raceway

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

CASA GRANDE, AZ (January 14) – Central Arizona Raceway played host to the third night of racing action in Casa Grande, Arizona Wednesday and it was a great night once again for WISSOTA wheelmen. After a stout showing of speed during the first two nights of the series — but coming up just shy of victory lane — two-time WISSOTA National Champion Jake Smith delivered for the victory in the Limited Modified feature, after a laps-long side-by-side duel with fellow WISSOTA National Champion and two-time 2026 series winner Blake Adams.

Other winners in Wild West Shootout action included Ethan Dotson and Reece Solander.

In the Super Late Model feature, Bobby Pierce was the early leader after a back-and-forth battle with Tyler Erb before the first caution fell with one lap in the books for RC Whitwell. Back under green, Pierce used the high side to escape with the advantage ahead of Erb, while Hudson O’Neal drove by Jonathan Davenport for third. Jake O’Neil and Ethan Dotson fought for fifth, with Dotson taking the spot.

Out front O’Neal used a slider to take second from Erb, with Dotson starting to close the gap to Davenport with six laps in the book. O’Neal continued to cut into Pierce’s lead, with lapped traffic just ahead. Pierce had a clean entry along his line, while the lapped traffic was in O’Neal’s preferred line. O’Neal adjusted his line, and this allowed Pierce to add some time back to his lead. Erb was third, Davenport was fourth and Dotson remained fifth.

At the halfway point Pierce was bottled up behind lapped cars, using Jake Timm as a pick to escape from the clutches of O’Neal. Pierce continued to work his way through lapped traffic with 10 to go, just ahead of O’Neal, Erb, Dotson and Davenport in the top five. A spun Mike Marlar brought the field back together under the yellow one lap later.

Following the restart, Pierce and O’Neal charged down the backstretch and heading into turns three and four, O’Neal slid up and into the lead, as Pierce made slight contact with O’Neal left rear as he raced out of four. The contact caused a flat and the yellow was back out for a slowed O’Neal.

Pierce led the field back to green, as Dotson had a head of steam and charged in to challenge Pierce down the backstretch; Pierce tried to use a slider but didn’t have enough to get back by Dotson, who escaped into the lead. Erb then slid Pierce a lap later, but Pierce regained the spot in the next turn. Behind Pierce and Erb, Gustin was close behind in fourth, while Davenport hung in fifth.

With Dotson out front in a healthy lead, Pierce, Gustin and Erb were all in close contention for second. Pierce held the spot along the high side, with Gustin making way along the low side in third and Erb also along the high side in fourth.

It was a commanding lead to the finish for Dotson, who grabbed his first-ever Wild West Shootout victory. Pierce, Gustin, Erb and Davenport completed the top five. Of the WISSOTA racers on hand, Laela Eisenschenk was the lone feature qualifier and she finished 17th from her 24th starting spot.

The Limited Modifeds put on a whale of the show, thanks to WISSOTA racers Jake Smith and Blake Adams. Smith was the early leader, with heavy pressure from Jacob Hodges in second and Adams close behind in third. Scott Bintz was fourth and Lucas Rodin was fifth.

With three laps down Adams began to close back in on Hodges for second, as Rodin drove by Bintz for fourth. Hodges, in turn, started to cut into Smith’s lead, shaving off time for a few laps before Smith escaped once again when Hodges climbed the wall, allowing Adams to move in to challenge for second, trading it back and forth before a caution fell for Eric Winemiller.

Smith drove back out into the lead with 10 laps to go, with Adams and Hodges side by side for second; Adams took the spot at the line and set off after Smith just before the “big one” happened, involving several race cars including St. Cloud, Minnesota’s James Trantina. Trantina was okay.

Back under green Adams pulled alongside Smith for the lead, with Hodges on their heels in third. Hodges had the momentum up top to drive by Adams into second, and then he took off after Smith. He didn’t have enough for the slider and had to regroup, however, allowing Adams to get back past him for second. On the next time by Hodges slid Adams, while Adams returned the favor and drove down back past him. With three laps to go Hodges missed his entrance into the turn and the car came to a halt, with the yellow reappearing for the incident.

In the three-lap dash to the finish, Adams had a run off the top and he dove to the inside of Smith in turn three for the lead. Smith pulled out of the turn with the advantage, as they raced back to the flagstand with two to go. Adams remained in Smith’s tire tracks and with one lap to go, Adams used a slider into turns one and two. Smith countered the move and drove to the checkered flag, as Adams finished second ahead of Rodin, Rob Moseley and Bintz in the top five.

Of the WISSOTA racers on hand who made the feature, Jaden Christ was sixth, Parker Anderson was seventh, Kaden Woodie was 12th from his 21st starting spot, Trantina was scored 19th, Curtis Stieh was 20th, and Brandon Rehill was scored 22nd.

Reece Solander was the early leader in the Modified class, with Gary Christian close behind in second and Joe Duvall falling to fourth as Dustin Sorensen worked his No. 19 by for third. Cale Murphrey was fifth, as he battled with Duvall back and forth for the position.

With five laps scored the lead trio — Solander, Christian and Sorensen — had a healthy distance ahead of the rest of the field. Sorensen began to heavily pressure Christian for second, as many of the front-runners remained committed to the high side. Duvall was fourth, Murphrey was fifth, and Rodney Sanders was right on his bumper in sixth. Sanders cracked the top five about two laps later.

Solander had a 1.3 second lead with 12 laps to go ahead of Sorensen, though Sorensen was quickly closing as Solander got stuck behind lapped cars. Solander worked his way through the backmarkers with Sorensen in pursuit, as Sanders worked past Duvall into fourth.

Six laps later Solander had a narrow lead as he raced through three-wide lapped traffic, predominantly using the high side while Sorensen sought a faster line behind him. With two to go Sorensen had a great run down the backstretch, but Solander was able to pull away slightly. Sorensen regrouped during the final lap, using his run off the backstretch to dive to the inside of Solander heading into turns three and four, moving Solander up toward the wall, but Solander survived and took the victory. Sorensen, Christian, Sanders and Duvall were top five finishers.

For those WISSOTA-licensed drivers on hand, Adams finished in the top 10, while Blake Jegtvig was scored 20th. Lucas Rodin was 21st.

SUMMARY

Super Late Models:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[9]; 9. 75-Terry Phillips[18]; 10. 6-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 11. 86-Kyle Beard[8]; 12. 15D-Justin Duty[12]; 13. 18-Chase Junghans[21]; 14. 75A-Daniel Adam[13]; 15. 15S-Clay Stuckey[16]; 16. 49T-Jake Timm[19]; 17. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[24]; 18. 8-Dillon McCowan[22]; 19. 9T-Tim Isenberg[20]; 20. 97-Cade Dillard[15]; 21. 157-Mike Marlar[11]; 22. 0-Jake O'Neil[3]; 23. 96-RC Whitwell[23]; 24. 22*-Drake Troutman[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 6-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 4. 75A-Daniel Adam[3]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[6]; 6. 13-Bricen James[8]; 7. 28-Sam Mars[10]; 8. 66-Eli Ross[5]; 9. 28W-Collen Winebarger[9]; 10. 4TW-Tim Ward[7]; 11. 6T-Terry Carter[11]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[4]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[5]; 6. 49T-Jake Timm[3]; 7. 96-RC Whitwell[7]; 8. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 9. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[8]; 10. 11X-Austin Kuehl[10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Jake O'Neil[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 5. 75-Terry Phillips[5]; 6. 9T-Tim Isenberg[6]; 7. 128-Kylan Garner[7]; 8. 88-Chance Mann[8]; 9. 15*-Cole Schill[9]; 10. 0G-Peyton George[10]; 11. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[11]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 86-Kyle Beard[4]; 3. 15D-Justin Duty[5]; 4. 15S-Clay Stuckey[3]; 5. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[8]; 6. 21F-Gunner Frank[7]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 8. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[6]; 9. 48-Brandon Lance[9]; 10. 8B-Ashlee Buck[10]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22*-Drake Troutman[1]; 2. 49T-Jake Timm[4]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans[2]; 4. 96-RC Whitwell[6]; 5. 13-Bricen James[3]; 6. 66-Eli Ross[7]; 7. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[10]; 8. 28-Sam Mars[5]; 9. 4TW-Tim Ward[11]; 10. 6T-Terry Carter[13]; 11. 11X-Austin Kuehl[12]; 12. 28W-Collen Winebarger[9]; 13. 78S-Steve Stultz[8]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips[1]; 2. 9T-Tim Isenberg[3]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 4. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[2]; 5. 15*-Cole Schill[9]; 6. 21F-Gunner Frank[4]; 7. 128-Kylan Garner[5]; 8. 88-Chance Mann[7]; 9. 48-Brandon Lance[10]; 10. 0G-Peyton George[11]; 11. 8B-Ashlee Buck[12]; 12. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[8]; 13. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[13]

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 5-Reece Solander[1]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 3. 58X-Gary Christian[2]; 4. 20S-Rodney Sanders[8]; 5. 91-Joe Duvall[3]; 6. 25-Kale Murphrey[6]; 7. 38T-Dylan Thornton[14]; 8. 4W-Tyler Wolff[15]; 9. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[7]; 10. 40D-Blake Adams[11]; 11. 10M-Talan Willis[16]; 12. 2SS-Mark Smith[5]; 13. 65-Tyler Davis[17]; 14. 721-Troy Gemmill[10]; 15. 7G-Gabe Hodges[18]; 16. 97A-Cole Anderson[12]; 17. J17-Jake Gallardo[20]; 18. 07X-Troy Morris III[22]; 19. 80XX-Jason Langford[9]; 20. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[21]; 21. 19R-Lucas Rodin[13]; 22. 12S-Hunter Sandy[24]; 23. 19SB-Lance Mari[23]; 24. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Kale Murphrey[2]; 2. 5-Reece Solander[10]; 3. 97A-Cole Anderson[5]; 4. 29-Chris Spalding[1]; 5. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[8]; 6. 12-Jay Rosales[11]; 7. 46-Paul Miles[3]; 8. 24X-Xavier Ortega[6]; 9. 131-Royal Jones[12]; 10. 0-Peyton George[4]; 11. 186-Jeremy Payne[9]; 12. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Joe Duvall[5]; 2. 20S-Rodney Sanders[4]; 3. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[2]; 4. 19R-Lucas Rodin[7]; 5. 07X-Troy Morris III[3]; 6. 65-Tyler Davis[11]; 7. J7-Jake Boles[6]; 8. 96-Taton Hansen[9]; 9. 7-AJ Sharpensteen[10]; 10. 73-Jeff Helget[8]; 11. 14T-Randy Thornell[1]; 12. 73S-Mike Szlauko[12]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[2]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian[8]; 3. P17-Peyton Gallardo[4]; 4. 7G-Gabe Hodges[6]; 5. 10M-Talan Willis[9]; 6. G17-Fito Gallardo[5]; 7. 12S-Hunter Sandy[10]; 8. 85D-Mark Dotson[7]; 9. 112-Brennan Gave[3]; 10. 22S-Cole Szlauko[12]; 11. 96C-Carson Ditsch[1]; 12. 413-Tate Johnson[11]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 721-Troy Gemmill[1]; 2. 2SS-Mark Smith[5]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[8]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton[7]; 5. 24C-Joe Chisholm[4]; 6. 17-Brent Holman[2]; 7. 11N-Gene Nicholas[3]; 8. 50-Robert Adams[10]; 9. 19SB-Lance Mari[11]; 10. 64-Casey Fowler[12]; 11. 6F-Matt Fester[9]; 12. (DNS) 71-Dustin Strand

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff[2]; 3. J17-Jake Gallardo[3]; 4. D25-David Tanner[5]; 5. 80XX-Jason Langford[11]; 6. 20-Cole Queensland[6]; 7. 88XXX-Randy Klein[9]; 8. 24-Rick Ortega[7]; 9. 3N-Gene Kay[10]; 10. 26S-Steven Glenn[4]; 11. 02LZ-Ellsworth Conover[8]; 12. 57-Gage McCaughan[12]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 65-Tyler Davis[2]; 2. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[3]; 3. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[4]; 4. 19SB-Lance Mari[11]; 5. 29-Chris Spalding[5]; 6. 186-Jeremy Payne[18]; 7. G17-Fito Gallardo[8]; 8. 24C-Joe Chisholm[6]; 9. 112-Brennan Gave[16]; 10. 71-Dustin Strand[22]; 11. P17-Peyton Gallardo[1]; 12. 88XXX-Randy Klein[7]; 13. J7-Jake Boles[10]; 14. 24-Rick Ortega[13]; 15. 22S-Cole Szlauko[15]; 16. 413-Tate Johnson[20]; 17. 14T-Randy Thornell[21]; 18. 131-Royal Jones[9]; 19. 3N-Gene Kay[14]; 20. 11N-Gene Nicholas[12]; 21. 0-Peyton George[17]; 22. 02LZ-Ellsworth Conover[19]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7G-Gabe Hodges[2]; 2. J17-Jake Gallardo[3]; 3. 07X-Troy Morris III[6]; 4. 12S-Hunter Sandy[5]; 5. D25-David Tanner[4]; 6. 20-Cole Queensland[7]; 7. 50-Robert Adams[8]; 8. 7-AJ Sharpensteen[13]; 9. 26S-Steven Glenn[17]; 10. 12-Jay Rosales[1]; 11. 6F-Matt Fester[18]; 12. 57-Gage McCaughan[19]; 13. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[20]; 14. 73S-Mike Szlauko[22]; 15. 46-Paul Miles[11]; 16. 64-Casey Fowler[15]; 17. 96-Taton Hansen[10]; 18. 17-Brent Holman[9]; 19. 85D-Mark Dotson[12]; 20. 73-Jeff Helget[16]; 21. 24X-Xavier Ortega[14]; 22. 96C-Carson Ditsch[21]

Limited Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin[6]; 4. M17-Rob Moseley[7]; 5. 1S-Scott Bintz[5]; 6. 79-Jaden Christ[3]; 7. 27P-Parker Anderson[12]; 8. 3J-Josh Cain[11]; 9. 22-Keenan Glasser[19]; 10. 99-Jeremy Haddox[18]; 11. 28-David Pitt[13]; 12. 980-Kaden Woodie[21]; 13. 44-Eric Winemiller[9]; 14. 30-Blake Davis[10]; 15. 509-Brennan Davis[22]; 16. 50X-Paul Parks[16]; 17. 14J-Jacob Hodges[2]; 18. 9-Ken Schrader[8]; 19. 19X-James Trantina III[14]; 20. 32C-Curtis Stieh[15]; 21. 5M-Eric McNutt[17]; 22. 34-Brandon Rehill[24]; 23. 93-Greg Gorham[23]; 24. 12-Mike Rosales[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[5]; 2. 3J-Josh Cain[1]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin[6]; 4. 11DW-Danny Wagner[2]; 5. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 6. 99-Jeremy Haddox[7]; 7. 93-Greg Gorham[10]; 8. 5M-Eric McNutt[8]; 9. 196-Skeeter Estey[4]; 10. 21B-Braxton James[9]; 11. 50-Braydon Whitfield[11]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. M17-Rob Moseley[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 14J-Jacob Hodges[8]; 4. 19X-James Trantina III[5]; 5. 30-Blake Davis[10]; 6. 12-Mike Rosales[3]; 7. 22-Keenan Glasser[7]; 8. 13-Josh Beyer[2]; 9. 0G-Peyton George[11]; 10. 54-Lance Relf[6]; 11. 05-Aasa Flores[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Ken Schrader[1]; 2. 1S-Scott Bintz[4]; 3. 28-David Pitt[2]; 4. 50X-Paul Parks[3]; 5. 980-Kaden Woodie[6]; 6. 34-Brandon Rehill[5]; 7. 27-Andy Davis[8]; 8. 509-Brennan Davis[10]; 9. 88-Tyler Delong[11]; 10. 11D-Dave Smith[7]; 11. 94-Tyler Potter[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 79-Jaden Christ[2]; 2. 44-Eric Winemiller[3]; 3. 27P-Parker Anderson[4]; 4. 32C-Curtis Stieh[5]; 5. 71B-Dave Siercks[1]; 6. 28M-Phil Marino[6]; 7. 57-Duke Erickson[7]; 8. 77-Chance Kodet[10]; 9. 28T-Scott Tofte[8]; 10. 5-Shane McNutt[11]; 11. 02-Deuce Teague[9]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5M-Eric McNutt[9]; 2. 22-Keenan Glasser[7]; 3. 980-Kaden Woodie[1]; 4. 93-Greg Gorham[2]; 5. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 6. 94-Tyler Potter[14]; 7. 0G-Peyton George[8]; 8. 50-Braydon Whitfield[13]; 9. 27-Andy Davis[5]; 10. 28M-Phil Marino[4]; 11. 13-Josh Beyer[10]; 12. 11D-Dave Smith[12]; 13. 196-Skeeter Estey[11]; 14. 77-Chance Kodet[6]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 99-Jeremy Haddox[2]; 2. 12-Mike Rosales[6]; 3. 509-Brennan Davis[5]; 4. 34-Brandon Rehill[4]; 5. 11DW-Danny Wagner[1]; 6. 02-Deuce Teague[14]; 7. 05-Aasa Flores[13]; 8. 57-Duke Erickson[7]; 9. 71B-Dave Siercks[3]; 10. 54-Lance Relf[12]; 11. 88-Tyler Delong[8]; 12. 5-Shane McNutt[10]; 13. 28T-Scott Tofte[9]; 14. 21B-Braxton James[11]